Animal Dream Poem by Marc Mannheimer

in primeval slumber,
warm-blood
mother-heart
runs through underbrush,
with gore-toothed wildcat
at her
heels

she runs into a clearing, into open view

but also into choices

(there are always choices) ,
but the hunter is here, too
its breath
on her hindquarters

in past dreams
she has tried every
point of reentry into the dark, dense bush,
and she has always been
caught

not breaking her run,
she realizes
there is one other choice
she has never made

clawing through fear,
she paws the air
above head-level,
and pushes off
from the grass-covered Earth
with her hind legs
and she is aloft,
soaring
upward
toward a blue sun,
its dewy coolness
inviting her,
communicating to her
in visceral, wordless
heart-speak

'Yeah, you’ve got it! ”


(2007)